Mario's Portofino Ristorante — Restaurant in Reno

My friend and I had reservations at Mario’s at 5pm. We were seated right away as there were only 2-3 other tables that had people at them at the time. We were informed that our server would be with us soon. It took her a while to get to us, but we were in no hurry at the time. We placed our order at about 5:15. In the time it took to get our food, we saw people who came in after us get their food before us. Our server was nowhere to be found. My friend finally got up to try and track down someone to help us. The manager told her that our server was new and that she was a little slow. I don’t think our server had anything to do with it. We didn’t get out good until 6:30 - an hour and 15 minutes after we placed it. And with no one checking on us or giving updates. You’d think they would make sure our food tasted good, right? Nope. I ordered the gnocchi with Gorgonzola sauce and added grilled chicken. Only half the gnocchi was cooked. The other half was still raw dough (see my picture). It was also cold and the chicken had no flavor. Very bland. I don’t think they used any salt on it at al. My friend, who has food allergies and has to order her food very carefully, got her food and it had things in her food that she’s allergic to and had specifically told our server that she couldn’t have. At first, she tried to eat her pasta that had pesto on it, which she can have, and again there was no flavor. No salt at all. She tried her chicken and it was the same. No salt and a bad flavor. And it was all cold as well! We were severely disappointed. And we had no time to get other food as we had theater tickets at 7pm. The manager was rude when we complained about the food. Said that she watched them cook our food so it couldn’t be cold. So she was also saying that if she just watched them cook our food, then why were they just cooking our food after we had been waiting over an hour? My guess is our order was never put in and then they rushed to get our food out and that’s why it was terrible and cold. Then the manager still had the nerve to try and get us to pay for the food. We ended up only paying for the cup of soup my friend had, which was really good, and the drink I ordered. At that point, we shouldn’t have had to pay for anything. The manager never came back and never apologized. Overall, one of the worst experiences in Reno since I lived here over...

After a long day of moving my daughter into her dorm I went looking for an Italian Restaurant so I can relax and have a good meal. Came upon Mario's and looking at high the reviews were I figured I would give it a try.

Now I am usually not the kind of person that feels uncomfortable walking into a restaurant, but the looks and the staring I was getting from the patrons made me feel a little uncomfortable. I decided to pay it no mind and go about having dinner. So things started off well with the waitress, got my ice tea and water, I ordered my appetizer (Calamari- I have had larger calamari for the same price with the same quantity. Not worth $10) and my dinner (Fettuccine Ai Frutti Di Mare).

Here is when it all went bad.

I waited 15 to 20 min for the waitress to come by and ask if I wanted bread, when delivered it was not warm and then I waited at least another 20min for my dinner meanwhile still having patrons look at me weird. Once I received my dinner it was hot (still not keen on the waiting time). The waitress did the best she could to keep my situation from getting out of control. The excuse was that there was a big party that needed to be served and she tried to get my order out before the large table. One would think that if you have a restaurant that seats around 100 to 150 patrons you would have the staff in the kitchen to manage that volume and be able serve your patrons in a timely manor.

Now if I was in a big hurry I would have given less stars, but the main course was very good and the dessert was very good as well. Not sure I would go back when I am up here again just due to how the local patrons made me feel when I was there. I may try other...

I don't even know where to start. We have 2 Birthdays to celebrate. We always try new restaurants, hubby wanted Italian and we were soooooo disappointed in the food. Jennifer , our server was absolutely the best Serber we have ever had in Reno. EVER! She was soooo attentive and we were never out of drinks. She was soooo thoughtful and brought our 2 Grandkids their pasta first and french fries. Now that's service. She was fantastic. She gave us the specials and went ordered calamari and cheesy bread for appetizers. That was tasty. We ordered blue cheese salads, way too leafy and hard to eat. Hubby ordered a chicken.pasta, it looked soooo unappealing, he atrnit, said it was not too bad. I ordered Ravioli Bolognese, the sauce tasted too fishy for me. I was so not happy , not cheap.either, son ordered fettuccine Alfredo, no meat, same fishy taste he said. He ate it though. DIL ordered 22 oz NY with truffle fries. She loved that. Martinis were delicious, lemon drop was yummy. Flourless chocolate cake was good and Tiramisu was too. The atmosphere here was incredible, if the food was better, this would be a regular out for us. Disappointed, but bottle upthe Server, she was amazing!! Cross this place off our list of go to's. Bummer. Why would our food taste fishy?? I don't get it. Cook seafood in the pasta water maybe?? That sure seemed like it to us. We have been to.Casales for Authentic Italian. I'm not a restaurant chain fan, but Olive Garden would have been...